Road To Recovery
by PuraJazzBot
Summary: [G1]PreEarth. The story of how Prowl's creator met Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's older brother. Features OCs Pursuit and Flattop.
1. Battlefield

Written for the 10 Prompts LJ Challenge and features Pursuit (OC, Prowl's creator, mine) and Flattop (OC, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's older brother, belongs to TiryaKing). This is the story of how they met.

* * *

Title: **Battlefield  
**Prompt: Battle  
Character/Pairing: Flattop/Pursuit  
Summary: Pursuit tries to give her young ones a chance to escape by drawing the enemy to her.

Pursuit leaned forward and placed a kiss on the young femme's cheek.

"Primus be with you," she whispered. "Take care, Pura."

Pura leaned closer and gave her creator a quick hug. "I will. You, too."

The older femme then stood, and soon enough, a barrage of gunfire came their way. Pursuit darted from behind the rubble and onto the street, weapon giving out charge after charge. Several Seekers dropped from the sky, smoke pouring from their afterburners, and she let a thin smile of grin relief cross her features for a moment, her rifle never leaving the armed-and-ready position. There were more coming, she knew. Still behind the rubble, she spied her young creation watching her with wide optics and felt her spark ache.

For all she knew, she was sending the little femme to certain death by asking her to run away from her, but she had to take that chance. She would be a lot safer underground, than out here with the Seekers, but she had to get her moving. The next wave of attackers was already upon them.

"Run Pura!" she shouted. "Don't look back, just keep going till you get underground. Now go!!!"

Her stern, commanding voice snapped the younger femme out of the trance she had fallen into, and Pursuit watched from the corner of her optic as Pura darted out and ran with all speed into the shadow of the opposite building. I love you, she thought as her creation blended and disappeared into the shadows. You and Prowl, I will always love you.

Determined to give the sparkling the best possible chance of survival, Pursuit fired on the Seekers again, drawing their attention to her and away from Pura. Quickly subspacing her rifle, she transformed and sped down the broken streets in the opposite direction. It was dangerous, she knew. There was no telling when the road would give way beneath her, or where the dead ends were, but she had to try.

Laser fire tore up the surface around her, sending molten globs of metal and sharp pieces of shrapnel spattering against her chassis. Pursuit winced in pain, but kept going, slowing only to avoid hitting any deep ruts. All around her she saw nothing but destruction. Autobots lay broken and dying everywhere. A hand here, a leg there. Primus, why wasn't there any warning, she wondered.

The tell-tale whistle of an incoming projectile alerted her to a fired missile, and she swerved sharply to try and avoid it. It exploded dangerously close and she felt a couple of tyres burst, the impact of it throwing her off her desired path. She transformed in mid-air and hit the ground on her side, summoning her rifle as she tried to quickly get to her feet. Exposed wires sparked in her left knee and shoulder – the side that had absorbed the force of the explosion.

Five Seekers circled in the air above her, like predators waiting to swoop in for the kill. She narrowed her optics, bringing her rifle up in her good arm. If she was going down here, she'd make sure to take a few of them with her.

"There's nowhere left for you to run, Autobot!" one of them called down to her

"Who said I was running?!" she called back. Quick as lightning she got off a shot that punched through the Seeker before he knew what hit him. "Fragger," she muttered as she shielded her head from the fiery pieces of Decepticon that rained down on her.

But now the other four fliers knew that she was not one to be toyed with and was best killed quickly before she caused any more trouble. They came at her hard and fast, weapons blazing. Pursuit could barely dodge them as she tried to find some cover to hide behind. A shot nailed her right hand, burning the limb and sending the rifle flying from her grasp. The femme dropped with a cry, throwing herself towards her weapon.

"Finish her off!" one of the Seekers yelled to another.

The nominated Decepticon swooped towards her as she crawled over to her rifle. Pain seared through her left leg, and she knew she'd been hit again – the cry she let out confirming it. Her left hand closed around her gun and she spun around quickly, bringing the rifle up as he flew overhead and shooting him through the fuel tank. He exploded before he hit the ground.

The remaining three Seekers landed, trying to surround the wounded and bleeding femme as she tried to stand. Pursuit fired at the nearest one and shot him through the head. A blast to the back sent her sprawling face-first through the rubble, optic fluid streaming down her face and she tried to focus through the haze of pain. Two forms stood over her.

"You've caused us a lot of trouble, femme," one said.

He reached down and wrenched at a doorwing, twisting the metal till Pursuit had no choice but to beg him to stop. All it got her was a sneer as he stood and stomped down hard on the already strained and weakened panel, snapping the doorwing in half. Pursuit screamed in agony, convulsing in the extreme pain that assailed her.

Still they wouldn't finish her off. The Seeker bent and hauled her up, backhanding and slapping her across the face a few times before holding her in front of him.

"It's a pity we have to kill you," he hissed in her audio. "You would have been a pretty toy to play with if we took you back with us, but the boss said no survivors." He looked at his wingmate. "Shoot her!"

The other was only too happy to comply. Pain seared her torso, her strangled cry drowned by the Seekers' laughter as the mech in front of her prepared to fire again.

At the last moment Pursuit struggled. Her captor lost his grip on her as she slipped from his grasp – thanks in part to her body being slick with bleeding fluids – and instead bore the shot through the fuel pump that was meant for her. He looked over at his partner in shock right before he collapsed and died. The last Seeker crossed the space between them and hauled her up by one side of her chevron, twisting it savagely and snapping it before shoving her against the shell of a small dwelling.

Pursuit whimpered in pain, trying to get up and failing each time, her body coated in energon that bled from her wounds. The Seeker stood in front of her, weapons poised to fire… and fire he did. His lasers shot out the few remaining struts that held the building upright, collapsing the structure down onto the injured femme and drowning out her terrified screams.

Oh he knew she was still probably alive under there – that was how he wanted it. He was not so merciful that he believed in quick, painless deaths. No, being buried alive would be a lot more traumatic for that Autobot. She would have to lie there alone in the darkness, with that crushing weight upon her, and slowly, painfully bleed to death. What a sweet sight it would be to the Autobot who finally found her – such a pretty femme forced to die in such a way. Laughing to himself, he took to the air and transformed, heading off to join the rest of his faction and hopefully find himself another Autobot to kill.

She was going to die here, she knew. She just wondered how long it was going to take. Her body wouldn't respond to her commands and she was slowly starting to lose feeling in certain areas as systems crashed from lack of power. Her spark pulsed slowly, very slowly, and optic fluid burned a path down her face even as her consciousness faded. It all hurt so much.

And then for a while there was nothing. No pain, no feeling, no sense of anything. But only for a while. Then it all came rushing back.

Pursuit sensed movement from somewhere beyond where she was. She could hear someone calling. Friend or foe, she wasn't certain, but neither did she care. Anything was better than lying here and slowly bleeding away. At least, if nothing else, she could plead with them to put her out of her misery. With a bit of effort and an involuntary cry of pain, she brought her right leg up and kicked feebly a few times, till it hurt too much to continue.

Then she waited, drifting in and out of consciousness, until the next time her optics flickered on and she looked upon a winged silhouette.

"Please," she whispered, not knowing if it could hear her or not. "Have mercy… shoot me."

The form knelt, and the load crushing her down lightened till finally there was no load at all. Her optics flickered, threatening to go offline again, but she willed them to stay on. She had to know who this was. A face formed in her vision – a young face burdened with worry. A pleasant face. A face too kind to belong to a Decepticon. He was speaking to her, though she couldn't make out the words, being far too fevered with pain to understand.

Suddenly she was floating on air. The mech's countenance still hovered above her. If only she could smooth those lines of worry from his face. Her burnt right hand cradled to her chest, Pursuit tried to reach up with her left hand to try and touch the troubled cheek in spite of the pain in her shoulder, but the pain proved the winner and she had to let her arm collapse again.

He had a pleasant voice, she thought, as her vision darkened once more. Not yet, please, not yet. She needed to tell him how grateful she was that he had found her. Please, just a little longer. Her vocalizer ached as she forced it to give her voice sound, and her mouth ached as she forced it to shape words. It was the last effort she could make before her spark robbed her last remnants of power to keep itself alive.

"Thank you."

END.


	2. I've Got You

Title: **I've Got You**  
Prompt: Hold On  
Character/Pairing: Flattop/Pursuit  
Summary: Flattop tries desperately to save the femme he found under the rubble

Primus fraggit, but he didn't think it had taken him this long to get into the main sector of Praxus. Fair enough he had been flying then, not footing it through debris-laden streets, but still, he could have sworn that the distance back to the search and rescue field unit was not as long as this.

Despite all of it, he dared not fly again, or even run for that matter. The burden he carried in his arms was far too precious to risk. He looked down at the wrecked femme he held close to his chest and felt his spark wrench, fighting down the urge to run. The energon that leaked from her wounds and onto his chest and arms made her body slick and he feared losing his grip on her should he try to.

He'd thought she had been just another body when he'd investigated what he thought was a sound coming from under a large pile of rubble and found her buried underneath. Despite all his experience in the military, the sight of this femme and what had been done to her still unsettled him. She had all the classic signs of a Seeker mauling and he had yet to see anyone survive one of those.

Then her optics had flickered, and she asked for mercy, begged him to shoot her. He supposed a kinder mech would have done so and ended her misery, but he had been brought up to never take the easy way out, nor let anyone else try to either. So he had told her he wouldn't, that he was going to get her to help.

Carefully, he had lifted the remains of the collapsed structure off her and gently scooped her up in his arms. Then he'd started walking back the way he'd come, to where the emergency medical teams were stationed. Halfway along, she whispered a "thank you" to him and went offline.

"Ohh no. No no no." He quickened his pace slightly, forcing himself to keep to a walk. "Stay with me. C'mon femme, please. Don't give up on me, I don't even know your name yet." Optics wide with worry and a little bit of despair, he held the injured femme closer to him.

At long last, the muted lights of the emergency teams came into view, along with a silhouetted form that came towards him. He didn't slow.

"'Fare! I need a medic and a transport now!" he called to the other bot. "Hurry!"

The smaller, orange mech fell into step with him as he led him over to one of the field medical stations. He looked at the battered form the other mech carried and let out a soft whistle of air.

"Seeker attack." He shook his head. "'Top, you know how those usually end. The vic always-."

"Yes I know, but she's still alive, and as long as she's alive, she has a chance to recover. I couldn't leave her."

He ducked inside one of the small shacks, startling the medic on duty, and carefully laid the femme down on a flat before turning to face the other mech.

"My name is Flattop," he said. "And I'm an Autobot intelligence officer. Please help her."

The medic ran a scanner over her and Flattop winced as the device lit up with over a dozen red lights, all the while beeping shrilly as it passed over her body.

"What happened to her?" he asked.

"She was attacked by Seekers," Flattop replied. "I found her buried under some construction debris that I think they must have collapsed onto her. Can she be saved?"

"Not here, I'm afraid," the medic said. "She needs proper medical attention at a proper med-center, or she doesn't stand a chance. I can't help her. The damage is too extensive and she's lost too much energon, far more than I can replace through a transfusion, and even if I could, most of her systems are too wrecked to process it. If you want to save her, I suggest you get her out of here."

"How far to the nearest med-center?"

"Nova Cronum, at least fifteen cycles from here."

He looked at her. "I don't think she has fifteen cycles."

The medic looked at him. "Then you'd better hope you can reach the place in ten."

Flattop moved back to her and lifted her up in his arms again, slightly alarmed at how light she felt. It seemed for that short time he'd put her down, she had lost a little more of herself, which only made him all the more reluctant to give her up.

"You shouldn't get too close to her," the medic told him. "There's every chance she wont make it."

"She survived under that rubble for three days. If I can get her to help in time, I know she'll make it. She's a fighter, and I wont give up on her." Flattop headed back outside again, holding the femme to his chest protectively while trying to keep her comfortable at the same time.

"Hey Topper, heard you needed a ride!" a voice called.

"Nosedive!" Flattop quickly went over to the green-brown transport flier who was already transformed and waiting on a clear patch of ground a few paces away, entry hatch open. "Thank Primus you're still here. How fast can you get us to the Nova Cronum med-center?"

"Well let's see… if it's just you and the femme, I'd say, in no time flat."

Flattop grinned as he carefully climbed aboard, trying not to jostle her too much as he moved. "Then I'd say that's perfect. Let's fly!"

He sat down and leaned back against a couple of empty crates as Nosedive prepared to take off, cradling her close as they rose into the air and the other mech fired up his thrusters, shooting them forward. The femme made a soft sound.

"Shh," he soothed. "Just hold on a little longer. You're going to be alright. You're going to live. Hold on a little longer for me, okay?"

Her lips moved and he leaned in closer to hear what she was trying to say.

"Okay."

END.


	3. Visitor

Title: **Visitor  
**Prompt: Scarred  
Character/Pairing: Flattop/Pursuit  
Summary: Flattop visits the injured femme, days after he rescued her from Praxus.

Flattop touched down on the landing pad beside the Nova Cronum Med Center and transformed swiftly, placing a hand on the wall beside him and bending over slightly as he tried to quickly cycle air through his systems to cool them. He'd been flying hard and fast, all the way from Iacon, hoping to reach the neighboring city before anyone had realized he'd left the Academy. He was in no mood to deal with any of them – mentor or student – and hadn't been for days.

Ever since he'd returned from Praxus, some bots had noted (to each other of course, never to his face, though he could plainly overhear them), he'd been more irritable than usual, getting defensive whenever anyone asked him about the run and if he had managed to find any survivors. Then he'd tell him about that wreck of a femme he'd pulled out from the rubble and his face would cloud over before he excused himself from the room.

Finally he could bear it no longer, he needed to know how she was and whether she had survived after he'd brought her in that day. He remembered how the medics had looked at him when he'd asked them to help her – like he'd shorted a few circuits in his CPU – and as much as he'd hated to do it, he'd pulled rank and ordered them to do all they could to save her life.

He straightened and walked into the building, striding purposefully down the hall, looking for someone who could tell him where the femme was. Primus help him, but if they had screwed up he would make their lives miserable for as long as they cared to imagine.

"Flattop, is that you?"

The mech looked up and saw the white-and-gold femme standing a few paces away, and his bad mood lightened considerably. His little sister, Triage, stood with a datapad in her hand and a small puzzled frown on her face.

"Tri!" He quickened his pace to reach her, but resisted from picking her up and hugging her. "What are you doing here?"

"Transfer. What are you doing here, big bro?" she asked.

"Came to see someone."

"Oh? One of your friends get hurt or something?"

"Not a friend… heh… I don't even know her name. I brought her in from Praxus."

"Ah, that femme." Triage sighed.

"What is it? Did something happen to her?" Flattop's tone grew alarmed.

"Relax, big bro. They put her under my care. No one else wants to be responsible if she dies." She looked around. "Some of them have been wanting to take her off the life-support, said she wasn't going to make it."

Flattop looked dismayed. "Triage, no. You can't. She was alive when I found her, that has to mean something. She deserves a chance to live."

Triage patted him on the shoulder. "Relax, I said she's under my care. I'll do what I can for her." She smiled coyly. "Why are you so concerned about her anyway? Not taking a fancy to her are you?"

"Of course not! I don't even know her name! She's just someone I rescued and I'm responsible for what happens to her. Its just… she probably means something to someone and they'll want her back safe and sound. I owe them that."

"Just don't get too attached alright, or it'll hurt you when you do have to give her back."

"Oh don't worry about me, I know how to keep an emotional distance. Intelligence officer remember?" he grinned. "So can I see her?"

Triage nodded. "Follow me." She led him further into the med-center and down a few hallways till they came to a door marked 'Critical'. "She's in there. I need to do a few rounds so try not to get into trouble, and don't touch anything in there either. Some of that equipment's highly sensitive."

"Consider my hands tied." Flattop grinned and ducked inside as Triage turned and went on her way.

The room was dark when he entered, but a few soft lights came on the further into the room he went. It didn't take him long to find the femme – she being the only patient warded there – and he went over to where she lay encased in a capsule of clear liquid that contained regenerative nanites to repair and restore her damaged systems as well as keep her energized.

He stood at her side and checked her over through the transparent lid of the capsule, wincing as the liquid magnified her injuries. Dark burn marks and deep furrows marred her simple black and ash paint – the worst of the many scars that criss-crossed her body. While they had managed to fix her red chevron, she was devoid of her doors – or door, since he'd found her with only one attached. The other was still probably somewhere in Praxus.

Pity stirred within him at the sight of her – something he rarely felt for others – and he lightly placed his hand on the lid as he leaned to get a closer look at her, trying to imagine how she would have looked before she fell prey to the Seekers. Her colors were plain, nothing like the splendidly colored femmes he saw back in Iacon, yet he found this somewhat refreshing. Her alt-mode, too, he surmised was more practical than stylish or beautiful.

He frowned. Then why had the Seekers gone after her? How had they even seen her? She was just another civilian with nothing to offer them, and with her color-scheme she could have easily given them the slip. Her chart listed nothing special about her either. So who was this femme and what had made them attack her so savagely?

A flicker of light caught his optic and he turned to look at her face again, in time to see her optics power up with a dim blue glow. Then she looked at him and Flattop smiled at her, kneeling down to be more on her level. Realizing she couldn't speak, and probably couldn't even hear him inside the capsule, he opened a general communication line, hoping to Primus she could receive it.

[Hi there! he sent by way of introduction.

There was a crackle and a burst of static before he managed to hear her faint voice over the line.

[Hello.

[My name's Flattop. What's yours?

[Pursuit… Where am I?

[Nova Cronum med center. You're inside a regenerative capsule. You were badly injured by Seekers down at Praxus.

[How… how did I get here?

Flattop hesitated a moment. [Umm… I brought you. I found you buried under some debris and you were barely conscious, so I brought you here as fast as I could.

[I remember you. Now she smiled at him a little, and to his surprise he felt his faceplates grow slightly warm. [You saved me, thank you.

[You're welcome. Flattop's smile grew. She was kinda pretty when she smiled.

Inside the capsule, Pursuit tried to move and winced in obvious pain when she attempted to take stock of all her injuries. Flattop's smile vanished instantly and he sat up, leaning urgently against the lid. Her whimpers cut him to the spark, reminding him of how she'd been when he'd first found her, and it was something he never wanted to experience again. It was all he could do to keep from tearing the lid off so he could pick her up and try to ease her pain.

[Oh, please don't move! he implored her. [You're hurt, and its only going to hurt more if you move. Please be still! His fingers curled as if trying to scratch through the lid. [Please…

Pursuit looked at him again, wondering at his sudden reaction, but at least stopped moving. [I have to find them.

Flattop tried to regain his composure. [Them?

[My creations.

[I didn't see any young ones around when I came. They must have escaped.

She smiled again. [That was the idea.

[Th-the idea? The it started to add up – why the Seekers had attacked her. He stared at her with renewed respect. [You drew them away for you creations to escape? But what about your mate?

Pursuit nodded. [Yes, but I don't have a mate.

Flattop was floored. Self-sacrifice to save ones creations was new to him, having never been on the receiving end of such generosity before in his life, and he could only imagine the courage and love involved for someone like this femme to make such a decision. He didn't think he would ever get that same love from his own creator.

[You're a brave femme.

[You don't know that, but thank you. Her optics started to flicker again.

[Get some rest. He stood up. [Your body still has a lot of healing to do.

[Will I see you again?

[I could come visit again if you'd like

[I'd like that, Flattop.

[Consider it done. Flattop grinned. [Now sleep. We'll talk a little more when I next see you.

He stood and watched her as her optics darkened and she fell back into a healing recharge. He didn't know why he'd agreed to keep coming back, but it seemed to make her happy, and as long as she continued to smile, that was good enough for him. The femme had a lot of scars to heal, and he wanted to help make sure she healed successfully.

Quietly, he headed to the door.

"Till we meet again, Pursuit."

END.


	4. Something To Live For

Title: **Something To Live For  
**Prompt: Promise  
Character/Pairing: Flattop/Pursuit  
Summary: Pursuit never thought she was anything special. Flattop sets out to prove to her otherwise.

Horizons could be beautiful things, she thought. They were often beautifully colored with just the right amount of soft light to make them glow, rather than shine, and then there would be just that one shadow or shape moving against it as a sort of contrast.

Pursuit smiled to herself, remembering some of the stories she'd read on borrowed datapads when she had some free time. Maybe she should try and borrow one again, see if it had a nice horizon described in it. She wondered if she'd ever end up like those characters she read about – standing and gazing off into the horizon, watching and waiting for her one true love to appear like a dark shape against the myriad of colors.

Her smile widened a little at the thought. He'd come towards her, and then he'd call her name.

"Pursuit!" he'd call. "I'm back!"

She almost laughed at that – almost. There was no way anything like that could really happen of course. Mechs barely looked at her, barely knew her as anything besides that mechanic-femme. Must be the colors, she thought. Black and ash didn't exactly stand out amongst all those multi-hued femmes, not that she minded. Besides, after she got out of the med-center, there was even less of a chance of anyone noticing her. Who would want a scarred and broken femme?

Well, except that one mech who kept coming to visit, the one who'd brought her here. Flattop, he'd said his name was. Bit of a funny name. As far as she could recall, he wasn't really flat anywhere. Maybe because his wings were flat, or maybe he transformed into something that was flat on top. She'd have to ask him if he came to see her again, and also ask why he kept coming back.

Speaking of wings, she wondered if she'd ever get her doorwings back….

[Pursuit, I'm back

Heh, now she was hearing things. She could have sworn she heard someone calling her name and saying the exact words she'd been thinking.

[Pursuit? Can you hear me?

Oh wait, that was her comm.link beeping. That familiar grey sensation wrapped itself around her before her vision cleared and she looked up through the clear liquid she was lying in and saw a familiar figure bending over the clear lid.

[Pursuit?

[Flattop?

[Yeah, its me. How are you doing?

[As well as anyone can be, lying in a permanent oil-bath.

[You were smiling when I came in. Were you dreaming?

[I guess I was.

He smiled at that. Something of a young-ish smile that she saw in a sparkling, mixed with a touch of the fond smile of an old creator. It looked kind of cute on him. He probably charmed a lot of femmes with that smile.

[What were you dreaming of?

[Horizons.

[Horizons?

[Yes. I like them. It's silly, I know. I mean, you being a flier, you must get to see a lot of them, so it's probably nothing to you.

Primus, what was she saying? Rambling again, and to a stranger at that, what was wrong with her? Wonderful. Plain, broken and now going crazy. Just what she needed really – not. She stopped speaking abruptly and frowned, not wanting to scare away the only bot that came to see her on a regular basis who was not a medic. She liked his visits. It was really lonely here without anyone to talk to. Sure, the medics came to check on her, but none of them ever really stayed to talk to her. They just checked her chart and readings, then left. Never a 'how are you?' or 'feeling better?'.

[Pursuit? Are you alright?

She looked up again to see the blue mech leaning close to the capsule, worry all over his face as he looked her over, trying to see what had made her frown like that. He really did look quite the handsome mech, she thought. Probably already had a mate of his own, but then…

[Why do you keep coming back here?

The question seemed to startle him, she noted.

[I… well… I did promise to come see you.

[Yes, but why? Why make a promise to someone you don't know.

[I'd like to. Know you, I mean. He looked a little sheepish. [You're an interesting femme and I think you're someone I'd like to know better.

Pursuit felt her cheekplates warm at that. He found her interesting, though she couldn't imagine why. Though she had to admit that part of her wanted to get to know him better, too.

[Are you sure your mate wont mind?

He actually grinned at that. [I don't have a mate.

[Oh. She felt that warmth again. [I'm a bit of a wreck though. It's going to look rather odd when all your Iaconian friends see you talking to a beaten-up femme with only one door.

[And then I'd tell them how brave that femme was, facing Seekers all alone in order to protect her creation.

[Some would call it stupid, rather than brave.

He chuckled and shook his head. [As for the door, I think I'll be passing by Praxus again. I could stop and look for it.

She stared at him. [You… you don't really have to go through all that trouble. Especially for someone like me, I mean, you're an Iaconian officer. Surely you have more important things to do than search through rubble for a door.

[It's no trouble at all, my dear femme. You have my respect and admiration for what you did. I'd consider it an honor, and if I can't find your door, I'll have the techs construct a new pair for you. I promise.

He touched the lid of the capsule just above her head, the tenderest expression on his face, and Pursuit felt her spark give off a little twitch.

[Thank you.

A wink. [Then when you're all fixed up again, perhaps we'll catch one of those horizons that you seem to like so much.

Pursuit smiled at him then. [I'd like that.

END.


	5. Just Reward

Title: **Just Reward**  
Prompt: Gift  
Character/Pairing: Flattop/Pursuit  
Summary: Flattop goes out to keep a promise.

For the fifth time that day Flattop asked himself what he was doing here. The once homely city of Praxus was nothing but a smoking ruin now and with rubble everywhere, how on Cybertron was he supposed to find one single door?! It was like searching for a microchip in a very large pile of junk – next to impossible. He didn't even know why he had offered to do it.

So it had given him an excuse to skip out on a meeting with his creator, but it didn't mean he had to be putting in so much effort to find it like he was doing now. It would have helped if the door had some color to it, but no, she – it – had to be black and grey. Flattop shook his head. Femme had wormed her way into his thoughts again.

"I'm just being nice," he told himself out loud. "Nice to her, because she's hurt, and she needs to be properly fixed. Otherwise there was no point to me rescuing her. Yeah. Just doing the Autobot thing."

His creator would have a fit if he knew Flattop was out here trying to help some crippled femme from Praxus. To the older mech's mind, if it wasn't Iaconian, it wasn't worth saving, and before the day of the attack Flattop had been a little inclined to believe him. All the good bots lived in Iacon, and if they weren't good enough for the city, then they weren't good enough, period.

The femme had changed all that when he found her under the rubble that day. He knew many an Iaconian that would have just given up and died, but she had clung on to life because of some unconscious desire to know that her two young ones lived. Her endurance alone had won her his respect and admiration. His creator was wrong. She was worth saving if for nothing else but the strength of her will alone.

"Getting a little defensive about the femme, are we, Topper?" he murmured.

He gave himself a slight shake and moved on, trying to locate the area where he'd found her. He would have normally started cursing the fact that her door blended in with the rest of the debris, but couldn't bring himself to. It didn't feel right, eventhough she wasn't there to hear it. She was a sweet femme and didn't need some mech like him cussing behind her back, especially since he was the one who offered to do this… just to be nice.

Finally, the area around him started to look uncomfortably familiar. Flattop frowned, remembering what had taken place here, what she had told him, how he had found her. Part of him just wanted to fly away from there right now, but he willed himself not to move and to keep looking.

"Think of how she's going to react when you go back with that door," he said to himself. "You'll get to make her happy, and then she'll smile. Think of how pretty she looks when she smiles."

Flattop nearly slapped himself. No, he couldn't think of that. His creator would kill him if he so much as hinted a Praxian looked nice. He had to stop thinking of her like that. He was just doing this to help her, because she was hurt. He didn't care how she looked. Once she had recovered she would be out of his life and he would never see her again.

"Get a hold of yourself," he scolded. "Triage warned you not to get attached. Listen to her and stop getting attached."

Angry with himself, he stomped over to a pile of debris to start looking for the door, when he tripped and promptly fell flat on his face. The impact of him hitting the ground dislodged several bits of debris from the pile around him, one of which hit him smack on the head. With a snarl, Flattop sat up, reached for it and was about to toss it away in anger when he suddenly stopped and looked at it hard.

He angled it a few times. It looked… like a door. Could it be hers? It was small and light – definitely more for a bot her size – and under the soot and grime, it was most certainly black and grey. He touched the ragged edges and shorn, dead wires that hung from one end and winced. It had been rather savagely ripped off.

He couldn't even begin to imagine the pain. He knew he would have been a mess had it been one of his wings. How had she possibly continued to fight those Seekers after that? Not very well, considering the state he'd found her in, but still, for her to have remained conscious at all…

Flattop cleaned as much of the dirt off the door panel as he could, then stood, cradling it to his chest like he would a sparkling. He would get this to her and make sure she got better before he had to let her go. She deserved that much for her courage. Subspacing the door carefully, he fired up his afterburners, rose into the air, transformed, and flew back to the Nova Cronum Med Center as fast as his wings would let him.

Upon his arrival, he transformed swiftly and darted inside, making a bee-line to her room. He'd been a frequent enough visitor that the staff on duty knew better than to as who he was or where he was going. He burst through the doors, then stopped short. His sister knelt beside the capsule the femme had been in all this time, except that now the capsule had been drained of the liquid mix and was lying open, and the femme in question was sitting up.

"What's going on?" he asked, stepping in cautiously.

"Don't worry, big brother," Triage said. "The nanite treatment worked well. She gets to move from 'critical' to 'serious' in a while."

"That's great!" Flattop looked from her to the femme behind her and back again. "Umm… Tri?"

The medic understood. "Oh alright, make it quick."

As soon as Triage had moved away to check on a few monitors, Flattop knelt before the femme and looked her over. She still looked worn and drained and incredibly fragile, laser burns scarring some of her armor, but there was a spirit in her optics that hinted only slightly at the femme she really was, or so Flattop thought, and he was determined to see that femme emerge once more.

"Hey there, Pursuit," he said.

"Hey," she said softly. Her voice was soft, with just a touch of underlying firmness.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better than I was, but still not close to what I used to be."

"You'll get there soon enough." Flattop paused. "This is a little weird, talking to you one-on-one like this without any barriers."

"Oh, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize! Its not a bad thing. I'm glad we're able to, 'cause now I can give you a gift… I, um, managed to find this!"

Realizing he was starting to babble and wanting to stop, he quickly unspaced the door and held it out to her. Pursuit's optics widened as she reached for it.

"How did…?"

"Made you a promise, didn't I?"

He passed it to her as she took it, and their hands touched for a brief moment and paused. Flattop's fingers unconsciously drew lightly along hers, registering the warmth in them. She smiled. He grinned.

"Thank you," she said.

"It was my pleasure," he replied. "Not much of a get-well present, but I figured you would like this more than some crystal bouquet."

"I've never had a crystal bouquet before, so I have no idea what you're talking about," she said.

"There may be time to remedy that."

"You don't have to. I wouldn't know what to do with one. Besides, you saved my life, I should be giving you something."

"Well… you could give me hug for scaring me half to death when I found you."

"I think I can manage that."

Flattop set the door down, carefully clasped his arms around her smaller frame and gave her the gentlest of hugs. His creator be fragged. He was glad he had saved her.

END.


	6. Don't Cry

Title: **Don't Cry**  
Prompt: Tears  
Character/Pairing: Flattop/Pursuit  
Summary: Healing can come with a lot of pain so it's nice to have someone around to ease the hurt and dry those tears.

There was no way that this amount of pain was good for her. Sure, Triage had warned her that the recovery was going to hurt – that once the medication and the pain-killer drugs wore off there was going to be quite a lot of pain involved as her body repair itself – but this was ridiculous.

Pressing the 'call' button for assistance was of little use since the medics had specified a certain interval between each dosage. They simply could not administer drugs at the slightest onset of pain, as it would do more harm than good. All she could do then was ride it out until the time came for the next round of sedatives.

Pursuit shifted in her berth, trying to find a more comfortable position that would ease the pain. This had been going on for some time now and she was sure she would go mad with pain before all this was over. How she wished she could go back to that capsule, for all the good it would do her. The nanites had only restored her basic systems so that they could start the repair work on the rest of her.

The medics were not the friendliest of bots either. With the exception of Triage, the rest simply treated her as if she was another piece of broken machinery. Every other day they had to carry out tests on her to see if her systems were repairing her correctly. They would hook wires up to her, insert probes or stick other things into her – sometimes roughly – with little thought of the discomfort she felt.

Often, once they left her alone, she would simply curl up and cry till her optics burned. It was the only release she had for all the pain, fear, frustration and loneliness she had to go through on a regular basis. Only Triage treated her like the living, feeling being she was, and did everything she could to make sure she caused her the least pain as possible, but Triage wasn't always around and Pursuit had no choice but to put up with the treatment in relative silence.

Now she lay curled up on her side facing away from the door, her back aching along the joint where her left door had been ripped off. That whole section was raw and sensitive and was currently the cause of most of her pain.

Earlier, one of the med-techs had used a probe there to see if there had been any dead circuitry that would have to be replaced, and hadn't been particularly gentle about it. Pursuit had tolerated as much as she could without complaint until the tech had yanked the probe out, causing her to scream in shock at the sudden jolt of pain that assailed her.

Hot tears slid down her face as she tried to relax her body so as to try and fall into recharge. She only just registered the door to her room sliding open and tensed again in case it was one of the medics come in for yet another test. She whimpered softly in fear.

"Please leave me alone," she said in a soft, shaky voice, not turning around.

"Pursuit? It's me…" Flattop's voice. "Are you alright? I can go if you want to get some sleep."

"Don't go!" she almost cried. "Please don't leave me alone!"

"What's the matter?" he asked, concerned, coming in and sitting beside her.

Pursuit slowly, painfully, tried to sit up. "Don't leave me alone with them, please Flattop!"

"With whom?" Flattop shuddered, willing himself not to lose his own composure at the sight of her tears. "Please don't cry, Pursuit. Tell me what's wrong, and how I can help you."

She moved into his arms without thinking, only knowing that he would protect her and not let anyone hurt her. "The medics. They hurt me everyday. There's so much pain. Flattop please, take me away from here, I can't take anymore of it!"

Trembling slightly, he held her, stroking her helm as gently as he could, but fearing to move incase he hurt her more and made her cry harder. "Alright. I'll talk to Tri and see if she can help you, give you something to stop the pain. But please stop crying, Pursuit. You're stronger than this."

"I don't want to be. I just want to get away from here!"

"I know. I know, sshhh… I'm working on it. I'll make them stop hurting you, I promise. Just please, don't cry anymore." Flattop reached up and tenderly wiped the tears from her face. "Don't cry… please. You're too strong to cry."

She looked at him, saw in his optics that he meant what he said about helping her, knew she was safe as long as he was around. "I'm not strong. I'm scared. It all hurts so much." She leaned into his touch, wishing they could all be as gentle as he was.

"It's only for a little while, but you're getting better. Once you're healed there wont be anymore pain, so you must try and bear it till then. You ARE a strong femme to have survived that long when I found you. I know you'll get through this."

He continued to stroke her helm, seeing that it helped her relax and stemmed the flow of her tears. His spark danced within him, and when he found those medics that had been so cruel to her, he would make sure they were transferred to the most remote outpost he could find. They had no business being medics if they couldn't treat his femme with the respect and kindness she deserved.

His femme... Well not exactly, but she was his charge, and he wanted her to get the best care possible, not be mauled around by some idiot med-techs.

"Will you help me?" she asked.

"For as long as it takes," he replied. "You're not going to cry again."

Pursuit settled into his embrace, soothed by his touch and his words, and finally felt sleep creep up on her. Flattop watched her as she fell into recharge in his arms, relieved to see some of the stress leave her features, and glad that her tears had stopped.


	7. Seeing You Anew

Title: **Seeing You Anew**  
Prompt: Beautiful  
Character/Pairing: Flattop/Pursuit  
Summary: Flattop never realized he could be mesmerized by someone so simple.

Disobeying his creator like this couldn't be good for his health, Flattop figured, but Primus take it, if seeing that femme was making him sick, then he didn't want to get well. Her company was far more pleasant, and unlike his creator, she actually liked spending time in his company. Truth be told, he felt likewise. She was interesting, and not just because she was from out of town.

Pursuit was one of the few femmes he could have a decent conversation with that didn't require him to stop and explain basic things every little while. Sure, there were some concepts that were foreign to her, but she caught on quickly to what he was trying to say. There was definitely high intelligence in that femme, which was completely refreshing to him. He figured she'd have to be smart, being an engineer by trade or so she said. He didn't think she was lying though. In his line of work he could tell quite easily when someone was telling the truth or not.

He was glad she was starting to get better. The treatment still went on, but at least she didn't cry so much or as badly as she had before. The medics had learned to be gentle with her or risk finding themselves slaving away at some field camp far away from Autobot-dominated territories, Flattop would personally see to it. Anything to make her smile, really. She was rather pretty when she did.

Oi... there he went again. He had to stop thinking of her as if she was his - she wasn't. In fact, the closer she came to recovery, the closer he was to losing her altogether - and he didn't want to. He had been prepared to let her go, only now he wasn't so sure if he could. She didn't look at him as his creator's mech or the Autobot Intelligence Officer or the Academy Instructor. She simply looked at him as him - Flattop.

Part of him selfishly wished he could get them to slow her treatment so that he could keep coming back to spend time with her, but he knew that was something too harsh to wish on her and could never actually bring himself to do it. Still, she did have quite a ways to go yet, and he was determined to make every moment count.

He breezed into the Nova Cronum Med Center and made his way down to her room, hoping she was awake as he had lots to tell her this day. As the door slid open and he stepped inside, he was still in thought about where to begin, but when he looked up and saw her, all thoughts and ideas died in his vocalizer.

Pursuit stood under a soft light with Triage, his sister, looking - to him at least - like a vision from Primus. All but the most severe of burns had healed, and she was now strong enough to carry her doors - both fully repaired, restored and reattached to her back - which only added to her gentle grace. Her red chevron had also been fixed and stood out sharply against the rest of her helm.

Triage noticed him first. "Hey, big brother!"

"I got my doors back," Pursuit said, and smiled at him.

Flattop all but melted. "That's great!" he half-squeaked out, then cleared his vocalizer. "I mean, I see. That's wonderful." He grinned helplessly.

"Well, I have a couple of other patients to check on, so I'll be back in a little while to get you your medication, okay Pursuit?" Triage said.

She nodded. "I'll be fine, Triage. My hero's here, I doubt he'll let anything bad happen to me." She winked at Flattop.

The medic headed to the door, pausing only to give her brother a poke in the torso as she leaned and whispered to him, "Careful Topper, stare at her any harder and your optics will pop out." She chuckled and left the room.

Flattop barely heard her, his optics continuing to roam over the femme's frame as she crossed the room and came towards him. Her paint was still dull, but he could imagine how she would look after a proper wash and wax, and the mental picture he painted only made him smile more.

Pursuit quirked an optic ridge at him. "Is everything alright, Flattop?" She tilted her head, catching the light with her chevron. "How has your day been?"

The mech finally found his vocalizer and simply said the first words in his mind. "Primus, you're beautiful." Then the rest of his processor caught up with him and he nearly smacked himself. "I mean, uh, my day has been... gorgeous... I mean, good."

She ducked her head and shrugged a little shyly. "I really don't know what you see as beautiful, Flattop. I'm a mess, just look at me."

"I am." Again he caught himself. "I mean, it's just a little mess. Under all of that you're very pretty."

Primus, what was wrong with him? Why couldn't his processor form proper coherent thoughts and sentences? It was not as if he was seeing her for the first time! He'd been visiting her for so long now, they were practically old friends. However, this was the first time he was seeing her as she really was, his mind supplied him, and imagine how strong and vibrant she must be when completely healthy.

"I'm sure you must know prettier femmes in Iacon," she was saying, gaze still partly on the floor, unsure of why she felt her cheeks grow warm at the compliment. A few other mechs had called her pretty before and she had barely flinched, so she couldn't understand why she was reacting to this mech's words like she was.

"They're alright," he said. "Some of them are multi-colored, optic-shorting pieces of plating though, I'm not kidding. Too much fuss and high maintenance. To see someone like you, simple beauty without any enhancements, its refreshing."

Pursuit shifted a little. "You're too kind, Flattop." She smiled at him a little. "You say that to all the injured femmes you save?"

He blinked. "N-no! I mean all that, sincerely. Besides, you're the only injured femme I've saved... and I'm glad I did."

She wobbled a little and he reached out to steady her. "Thanks."

"We should get you back to your berth. I wouldn't be much of a hero if I let something happen to you this far along in your treatment. That, and Triage will have my head for harming one of her patients."

Pursuit let him guide her back to her berth, where they then sat down together, feeling strangely comfortable in his arms. "Don't worry, I wont let her harm you."

Flattop chuckled. "You don't know my sister. She is evil."

"And she's going to kick your aft if you don't get out of the room and let me do my work," Triage said from the door.

Flattop visibly flinched and stood. Then he looked at Pursuit. "Until I next see you, beautiful." He winked at her and then headed out.

Pursuit looked after him as Triage came over to her. "He's a nice one."

Triage smiled a little knowingly. "That he is."

END.


	8. Can't Let You Go

Title: **Can't Let You Go  
**Prompt: Falling In Love Again  
Character/Pairing: Flattop/Pursuit  
Summary: Flattop tries to come to terms with his feelings for Pursuit.

Flattop looked himself in the reflective panel and let out a short, sharp sigh. No, it wasn't possible and he absolutely refused to admit it. Primus take it all, they were just friends - very good friends - and nothing more. Yes, she was a sweet femme; yes, he liked her, but that was it. It all ended there. Nothing beyond that. He didn't want anything more than that.

_Liar._

Alright, so she was pretty...

_She's beautiful._

... and intelligent...

_She's probably smarter than you._

... sensible...

_She doesn't have your ego._

... had all the traits he quite liked in a bot...

_She's everything you ever wanted._

... it was no wonder he liked her - as a friend.

_You're falling in love with her._

Flattop shook his head violently to dispel that maddeningly annoying voice that just wouldn't leave him be. It was always there, in his head, putting all these crazy thoughts into his mind...

_You should tell her how you feel._

... like that! He almost felt like slapping himself.

"Shut up! Just shut up! None of that means anything, she's my friend!" he said out loud.

_She could be your lover._

"I don't see her any other way."

_You want her as your lover._

"Argh!!!"

_Don't deny it._

"Besides, she sees me as a friend, too."

_She probably knows how you feel._

His shoulders slumped. This was hopeless. He was standing here and arguing with himself for Primus' sake. Could it get any more ridiculous than that?! He gave himself another shake, turned and headed out of his quarters. A good flight would probably do him good and clear his head of all these crazy thoughts. Yep, that's what he'd do. Transforming swiftly, he fired up his afterburners and shot into the sky, looping and barrel-rolling a few times before straightening out and cruising.

It was only after a good long while that he noticed he was hovering directly over the Nova Cronum Med Center.

"Fraggit!"

He could just about hear that voice cackling madly in his head.

_You're hopeless. Just admit it: you love her._

He would not. Turbo-wolves could not drag it out of him, because there was nothing there to drag out. They were just friends. Just. Friends. He descended and transformed back to robot form. All he did was save her life and visit her during her recovery.

_Stubborn fragger, aren't you?_

There were no feelings involved whatsoever.

_The why does your spark dance for joy whenever she smiles at you._

"Shut up!"

He pushed through the Med Center doors and headed inside, feet automatically turning in the direction of her room without a second thought, pace quickening the closer he got.

_She's right for you._

She deserved someone better. His pace slowed. What could he possibly give her? She needed someone who could take care of her and not let her get hurt again. He was only an officer, what did he know about taking care of a femme? He wasn't right for her.

_Why don't you let her decide?_

He paused, frowning. Every passing day she was getting better and stronger. It wouldn't be long before the Med Center declared her completely healthy and released her. What would happen to her then? Where would she go, what would she do? Was he prepared to just let her go out there only to get hurt again by some brute of a mech who didn't know how special she was?

_You can take care of her, keep her safe._

She trusted him. He could protect her, keep her from ever being harmed like that again. He resumed walking. There was no way he'd possibly be able to get her out of his mind, even if he did let her go. She would haunt him for the rest of his life. And he knew he would probably regret ever letting her go without telling her how he felt.

He reached her room door.

_You love her._

"I love her."

_Glad we finally agree on something._

He pushed the door open and stepped inside...

END.


	9. Stay With Me

Title: **Stay With Me**  
Prompt: Wait, what?  
Pairing/Character: Pursuit/Flattop  
Summary: Pursuit considers her feelings for Flattop.

Pursuit looked up from where she was half-reclined on her berth as Flattop burst into her room with a very determined expression on his face. Three steps in however, he seemed to falter and deflate, and whatever resolve had been there crumbled into his usual grin the closer he got to her. Pursuit smiled, chuckling to herself as she watched him.

He was quite handsome...

Wait a minute! Where had that come from? She blinked inwardly, wondering what had led to that sudden thought. She'd always thought the flier was cute, but... handsome? When had that happened? Still, he did have a smile that could make any femme go weak in the knees.

He was smiling at her now

Primus... Pursuit was suddenly very glad she was sitting down. Her coolant pump had quickened it's pace trying to quell the rush of warmth that ran through her as she offered him a small, shy smile in return. She followed him with her optics as he went over to the windows to draw back the blinds so she could enjoy the view outside for a while.

He had quite the profile, too.

A good, strong build, broad chest and shoulders enhanced by the wings that hung like a cape off his back. His limbs were long and lean and she remembered how easily those arms had picked her up and carried her out of Praxus. She had felt so comfortable in them and she wondered if anyone else would be able to hold her as gently and securely as he had.

She reluctantly tore her optics away the moment they started to travel further south to his aft. No. No no no. Not going there. She didn't have any right to be checking him out the way she currently was. They were friends for goodness sake, and friends didn't check each other out like that.

Besides, why would he want a plain, inexperienced femme like her when he could have the best in Iacon. She could never hope to match up to any of them. A sigh escaped her vocalizer.

He turned at the sound of it, tilting his head slightly in concern as he looked for anything that could have made her emit it.

He looked adorable when he was worried.

Pursuit forced herself to smile again. She was being silly. There was no reason at all to have these feelings for him. He saved her life, visited her while she was recovering, and as soon as the medics gave her a clean bill of health, he would be out of her life before she could even say thanks. Mechs were like that. He had absolutely no reason to stay. He owed her nothing.

Flattop finally came over, sat on the berth and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Please don't do this, part of her silently begged him. Don't make this harder than it has to be. He would go and she would be alone again with no home to go to, nothing. She was scared. She didn't know what she was going to do when the Med Center released her. Everything she ever possessed had been destroyed back at Praxus. Flattop had been with her all this time, and now she was going to lose him, too.

Was she always going to lose the ones she cared about?

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied quietly, not quite sure what she was responding to, but it seemed to answer both their questions. It did hurt.

"Oh. Is there anything I can do?"

Don't go, she wanted to say. "I'll be alright."

"Pursuit..."

"Yes, Flattop?"

"I... uh... that is... I mean..." he glanced away to the window. "The view's beautiful outside. Have you seen it?" He grinned weakly.

"It is, I see it every day."

"Oh... right! Of course you do. This is your room." His expression turned sheepish.

She wanted to scream at him, but that would have been very un-Pursuit-like of her. Her creator had taught her never to lose her temper, especially when she had no one to blame but herself. So she willed herself to keep up her pleasant front and not take out her problems on him - especially when he had already done so much for her.

It wasn't his fault that she had fallen for him - hard.

"Uh... Pursuit?"

"Hmm?"

"There's uh... something I need to tell you."

Here it was...

"What is it?"

He was going to leave her.

"I... I'm in love with you."

"Oh."

Wait, what?!

END.


	10. Trust Us

Title: **Trust Us  
**Prompt: Kiss  
Pairing/Character: Pursuit/Flattop  
Summary: Pursuit and Flattop finally confess their feelings for each other.

They stared at each other for a moment, Flattop not sure if she had heard him, Pursuit not sure if she had heard him correctly. The silence started to stretch and Flattop shifted uncomfortably, wondering if he had offended her in any way, scared that she might not reciprocate his feelings. Pursuit looked everywhere but at him, not sure of how to respond, wondering if he meant what he said.

Unable to think under his keen gaze, she rose and went to the window, not noticing how Flattop's wings drooped as she moved away from him. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to sort out her feelings. He watched her, hope trying to fight the fear in his spark.

He didn't want to leave her.

She didn't want him to go.

Flattop stood as well, wanting to go to her, but wanting to give her space at the same time. The last thing he wanted was to pressure her into making desicions. Not only would it upset her, but Triage would kill him for stressing her out while she was still healing.

Pursuit frowned, unsure for the first time in her life of what she wanted or how she felt. He seemed sincere, WAS sincere – she doubted he'd start lying to her now – and she knew she did have feelings for him as well, but would all that matter further down the road? She didn't want to pledge to him if he was going to abandon her as soon as he tired of her simplistic novelty.

"Pursuit…" He saw her doorwings twitch at the mention of her name, didn't know if it was a good or bad sign, but carried on anyway. "I'm sorry. I know it was sudden of me, but I had to let you know how I felt before…" He paused.

"Before what?" she asked, giving him a slight glance over her shoulder.

"Before you left, before I lost you." He sighed. "I don't want to lose you. I've come to love you, Pursuit. Please, believe me."

She looked away. "I want to."

"But?"

"But do you love me for who I am? Or because you felt sympathy for me. How do I know you wont leave me the moment some beautiful Iaconian femme catches your optic? I can't compete with them."

"If I was interested in them, I wouldn't be here confessing to you. I don't want you to compete with them, I want you to be you – just simple, beautiful Pursuit. I fell in love with the femme, not the situation she was in. I want to be there for her, help her, love her." Flattop took a couple of steps closer to her.

"I have nothing to give you."

"Give me a chance."

She turned halfway to look at him, wanting to go to him and tell him that yes, he could have her love, but she had to be certain of him. "Why?"

"Because I was with you when you were the most vulnerable. If I had wanted to harm you or use you, I could have done so then. I didn't have to come and visit you all the time, at the risk of getting fragged for shirking certain duties, but I did, and I enjoyed every moment I spent with you. Don't tell me you didn't like them."

"I did." Pursuit took a step towards him. "I'm just afraid… that you might tire of me and leave one day."

"I never could. All this time I've been with you, it's only made me want to be around you more." He stepped towards her. "I think… there's a lot we could give each other, but if you feel that you don't return my feelings, it's not right of me to force you to. I… If you ask me to go, then I'll take my leave."

"Don't go!" Another step. "I do." She shook her head. "You're right, you didn't have to do any of that for me, but you did and never asked for anything in return."

"I made you smile. That was enough, really. Bots rarely smile at me, most don't like me. That anyone would trust me enough to fall asleep in my arms and know that I wouldn't harm them… I've never had someone trust me like that before."

"I didn't see a reason not to." She gave him a small smile.

Flattop melted, reaching for her hands. Pursuit placed them in his and he pulled her closer, gently wrapping his arms around her and ready to pull back if she didn't like it. Instead, she moved closer to him, looking up at him till their optics met. Flattop bent his head.

"May I?" he asked.

"You may," she replied.

Closing the distance between them he kissed her softly, closing his mouth around hers gently and watching her for any signs of discomfort. Her optics dimmed as she returned it, her arms going around his neck. He dimmed his own optics and lightly caressed her cheek before releasing her.

"I love you, Pursuit."

She leaned against him. "You have my love, Flattop."

He placed another kiss on her helm, holding her to him. "Come with me to Iacon," he murmured. "When they release you, come with me. Let me help you. I have a private apartment right in the heart of the city, near the academy. You can stay there with me while we try to find your littles."

Pursuit nestled her head under his chin. "I don't want to be a burden."

"You wont be. I want to help you. I want to always be there for you. Let me help, please." He pulled back a little and met her optics again. "Trust me."

"I do. Alright."

"Good." He leaned and kissed her again, a little deeper this time, feeling just the bit pleased with himself when she let out a soft sigh.

"Careful," she said, when they parted. "I could get used to that."

He grinned and nuzzled her. "Then I guess I'll just have to encourage it."

She smiled. "That'd be nice."

END.

-----------------------------

Okay, that's the last prompt of this series. Sorry there's no Prowl, but the idea of the challenge was to focus on the couple. And in my storyline Pursuit and Flattop dont meet up with their creation and siblings respectively until they come to Earth. If you'd like to see more of Pursuit and Flattop, please have a look at "Tales To Last A Lifetime" by Tirya King (right here on ffnet). It focuses more on Flattop, but Pursuit does feature, as well as his Twin siblings.

In the meantime, I've just started on another series focusing on Pursuit and this one will be featuring Prowl, so keep a lookout for that.

And thanks to all who've read, reviewed and enjoyed this.


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